working on a sony pcg-5k2l laptop for a friend. the power jack got damaged, so i replaced it. a simple repair, with no soldering, just a plug in.

when i plug the power brick in, there is an led on the bottom side that flashes a couple of times, and then shuts off. when i press the power button, both the power and the battery button come on for about a second, and then shut off. at the same time the led on the bottom of the laptop does its little twice flashing trick as well.

any ideas?? this is driving me nuts!!!

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Maybe it was a knock-off. I bought a sony pcg nv170 in 2003 and now its 2012 and I haven't had any problems. So far every sony product I've had that had a problem the customer support helped me with my problem quickly. (and also my nv 170 still has all stock hardware)
I think "it's a sony" still means quality. On the other hand my dad was a sony employee.
No Matter what other people think I think sony makes quality products.

no, its a genuine sony laptop that i am working on. and its driving me nuts!! i get it to start once in a while, but then it shuts down and wont start again. does it with the battery installed, or without the battery... completely random

Can you provide more detail about
-ALL the damage that occurred to the computer (and the brick-side connector if applicable),
-HOW it was damaged (e.g. dropped, high-impact with object, power cable yanked sideways, etc),
-EXACTLY what you did to repair it, where you obtained the replacement part(s) if any and if they were official SONY parts or some third-party "equivalent", and
-Details about any post-repair testing of connections you did, etc.?

"...no soldering...."???

Might give us all more ideas to work with when formulating suggestions.
Or, perhaps just listing them for yourself might give you some things to check-out. For example, perhaps your friend didn't tell you exactly how it was damaged, and the details might suggest something else could have been damaged at the same time.

the power plug in connector on the laptop was damaged, and the middle plastic was broken away, so the laptop wouldn't charge/work without wiggling the power adapter.i found a replacement online, that stated it was an original sony replacement. its a simple repair by replacing the plug with the 3.5" wires and a molex connector on the other end.

the laptop comes apart really easily, and there are no real surprises once inside the unit. everything is very basic and comes apart, and goes back together really easily. i dont smell and burned components inside.

like i said, when i hit the power button, the power light comes on for about 1-2 seconds along with the battery light, then they both go out. at the same time, the 2" led bar on the bottom of the laptop comes on, then flashes and goes out. weird huh?

.Assuming nothing else was damaged during the initial incident (e.g. if the laptop was dropped or something hit it hard enough to damage the jack then something else could have been damaged or knocked loose), I'd start with the most basic issues in replacing an electrical harness...

Step1: I'd use a volt-ohm-meter to verify that when the power-brick is plugged into the jack that all the connections in the brick's jack are carried-through to the molex connector's contacts...checking voltages and/or continuity as appropriate (in addition to the voltage(s) there is possibly at least 1 feedback wire between the laptop and the brick). For example, I've seen power plugs that fail to make proper contact with the contacts in a replacement jack. Sometimes it's due to a tolerance problem or damage during handling/shipment.

Step2: I'd use a volt-ohm-meter to verify the continuity between the contact in the molex connector and the contacts on the business end of the power jack. In other words, make sure the part itself doesn't have a manufacturing defect. There might be some redundancy in the connections that wouldn't be obvious in Step1. This might be checked when step 1 is performed, but if no problems were found in step1 I'd check it separately anyway.

IF it's a "smart" connector, verifying it's working properly could be more complicated (e.g. IF there's a chip or diode somewhere in the segment of the harness covered by insulation then simple volt-ohm checks might not be sufficient to verify the jack/cable assembly is working as required).

Note also that ESD damage during the repair could have occurred, and the results of that kind of damage can be quite unpredictable. Not saying that's what happened, just that it's one of the possibilities.

Also, make sure the separate ground wire connections are rock solid...no paint, dirt, etc. Check the continuity from end-to-end on the circuit board/jack-connection...not by touching the meter leads to the top of those two screws.

(sorry for the multiple edits...having to clean-up mostly due to pain meds...not a good day today)

forgot to mention that i thought maybe the part was defective, so i bought another one from a different site(faster than having it returned for a new one). and am getting the same results. also tried using a different power supply.

right now the laptop is sitting here plugged in with the battery light continually flashing twice, then pausing.

Just to say thanks for a very informative post. I have a VAIO VGN-N21M and I can't get it to boot, when I press the power switch the power light comes on for a few seconds then goes out again, do you think it could be the MOSFET? I have checked the DC in socket and done all the usual things like draining the power, trying different memory etc but still can't get it to power up.
Thanks for a great post!

Got a VPCEEW3FX. Was working fine yesterday and normally shutdown. Today, when I turn it on, black screen, 3 lights at top flash once, CD drive rumbles, then silence. Is this a motherboard/RAM issue or a BIOS issue. How can I easily resolve this?

If I leave the thing unplugged and with no battery in the unit overnight it resets and I can boot once.

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